Spending part of the year overseas in retirement: the winter away

The order of decisions for you

The winter away is the smallest step towards retiring overseas, and the pension rules suit trips of under 12 weeks. So set your dates by the rules first, then find a place that fits them.

1. Pick your dates first. Count the weeks from the day you leave to the day you land home. Under 6 weeks usually changes nothing, and under 12 weeks keeps the Pension Supplement. Our guide to the 6, 12 and 26-week rules explains each point.
2. Tell Services Australia if it’s over 6 weeks. Services Australia says you must, through myGov, by calling 132 300, or at a service centre. Cruises into international waters count as time away.
3. Match the place to the dates. Choose somewhere whose visitor stay or eVisa covers the whole trip, or sort out the visa before you fly.
4. Ask insurers about cover for the whole trip. In particular, ask about the longest single trip an annual policy allows. Smartraveller says to declare everything upfront, or you may void the policy. Our guide to travel insurance for long stays covers the age limits.
5. Sort out medicines and the card. Your Pensioner Concession Card is cancelled after 6 weeks. Services Australia says to carry medicines in their original packs with a doctor’s letter, and nothing can be posted to you.
6. Set up the house to sit empty. Arrange the mail, leave a key with a neighbour and ask someone to check on the place. The home stays exempt from the assets test while you’re on a trip.
7. Choose places whose visitor stay fits 12 weeks. These suit a winter away:
   • Da Nang: an eVisa of up to 90 days covers the full 12 weeks, at about A$2,470 a month for a couple (our estimate).
   • Penang: 90 days on arrival, with no visa application, at about A$2,540 a month for a couple (our estimate).
   • Bali: 30 days on arrival, extendable once by 30 days, which suits a shorter winter of up to about 8 weeks.

A worked example

An example, not a real person.

Rob and Di are 70 and 71. They own their home in Canberra and get the maximum couple rate of the Age Pension. Their plan is 12 weeks in Da Nang, leaving mid June and landing home in early September.

	Amount
Their Age Pension, couple maximum (A$1,866.00 a fortnight combined)	about A$4,040 a month
A month in Da Nang for a couple, rent included (our estimate)	about A$2,470 a month
Living costs for 12 weeks in Da Nang (our estimate)	about A$6,840

Pension rate from Services Australia (20 September 2026). How we worked out our estimate: Numbeo’s living costs for one person (without rent), plus a one-bedroom city-centre rent, plus 30% for eating out, local trips and extras. For a couple we multiply living costs by 1.8. We converted at the Reserve Bank of Australia’s average exchange rate for the 12 months to September 2026 (A$1 = 18,160 dong, for example). Health insurance isn’t included. Numbeo’s Da Nang page was last updated 19 October 2026. Flights are extra.

Week by week:

• Before they go: they tell Services Australia and apply for eVisas, with the details exactly as they appear in their passports. Their annual policy limits each trip to 60 days, so they take out a single-trip policy.
• Weeks 1 to 6: nothing changes with their pension or cards.
• After week 6: the Energy Supplement stops and their Concession Cards are cancelled.
• Week 12: they land in Canberra inside 12 weeks, so the Pension Supplement never stopped.

What to ask a professional

• Insurance broker: “Does this policy cover a 12-week trip, and what’s the per-trip limit?” “Are my declared conditions covered for the whole stay?”
• Registered tax agent: “If we spend every winter overseas, does that change our tax residency?”
• Licensed financial adviser: “If we stretched the trip past 12 or 26 weeks, what would change for our pension?”
• The country’s embassy or a licensed visa agent there: “Does this visa cover the full stay, and what happens if a flight is delayed past the end date?”

Book a free planning session on Zoom. Once we know your situation, we can tell you which of these people to start with.